International Rail Services: Ashford

Helena Dollimore Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Helena Dollimore (Hastings and Rye) (Lab/Co-op)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the potential merits of returning international rail services to Ashford. 

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. When the channel tunnel first opened in 1994, it was rightly celebrated as a triumph of engineering and ambition. It showed that Britain was open for business, and our communities in Sussex and Kent continued their centuries-old role as gateways to Europe in a new modern form. When the international rail terminal was built two years later, Ashford became a hub of opportunity, with trains running directly to Paris—including to Disneyland—Brussels and beyond. One of my earliest memories when I was about five years old is boarding the Eurostar to France from Ashford International. I loved going on what I then called the “yellow-nosed train” and having a whole continent on our doorstep.

Today, however, Ashford International is a ghost station. During the pandemic, Eurostar decided that its trains would no longer stop at Ashford between London and Paris—or anywhere else for that matter—making the service much less accessible for those of us halfway along the track, like my constituents down on the south coast and the constituents of many other Members who are here with us today. The terminal at Ashford has been completely abandoned. The announcements and signs when people go through the station may still say “international”, but the two international platforms stand completely unused and empty. It was strange to be back in the terminal this summer, with the abandoned check-in desks and the seats wrapped in plastic, but what struck me was that everything is still there—ready to go. It is an absolute no-brainer to get Ashford back into use.

Earlier this year, I, along with many Members in this room from both sides of the House, met the chief executive of Eurostar to stress the importance of her company returning international services to Ashford. I reminded her that Ashford International terminal was opened with significant taxpayer investment, and that Eurostar has not only a business case to return these services, but a moral responsibility to the areas that it promises to serve. Her answers were lacking, and the truth is that Eurostar used covid as an excuse, having run down the service at Ashford International for years before the pandemic, with fewer trains stopping there.

It was clear from our conversation that Eurostar has failed to do any kind of serious business assessment of Ashford’s potential, and it instead prefers to pile passengers into an already-packed St Pancras terminal. Anyone who has taken the train from St Pancras recently can tell us how chaotic the check-in is. Why add more passengers to a terminal that is already stretched to its limits, as Eurostar says it plans to do?

For our constituents in Sussex and Kent, using the Eurostar now takes much longer than it used to, and it costs more. My constituents in Hastings, Rye and the villages have to travel up to St Pancras from Ashford, only to come back down the same line. It is particularly depressing to pass through the deserted terminal just before entering the channel tunnel—sometimes people even see their car that they parked there earlier. A one hour 50 minute journey from Ashford to Paris now takes upwards of four hours for my constituents, and even longer if they are coming from Hastings or Rye. The cost of the journey has doubled, and for some it has tripled or quadrupled, because they have to factor in the cost of an overnight stay in London for an early morning train. It is expensive, it takes longer, and it does not make any sense.

Local residents and businesses also understand that international services from Ashford were more than just a transport link; those services meant a huge amount to our local economy, our connectivity and our identity as a region. Many local businesses in my constituency of Hastings and Rye have raised with me the lost link at Ashford International. One local hotel owner said she has seen fewer guests coming from Europe since losing the link. Another business that trades extensively with Europe finds it harder to do those deals without the clear connection from Ashford. It has a real impact on our local economy. As another local company said to me,

“when the trains stopped, so did a lot of our business.”

The now abandoned terminal was once a gateway between Britain and Europe, full of promise for investment, tourism and stronger ties with our closest European neighbours. It is now a symbol of decline and neglect, leaving tens of millions of taxpayers’ pounds sitting idle. It is communities such as the ones I represent in Hastings, Rye and the villages that have suffered the consequence of that decision. The visitor economy has been slower to recover from the pandemic than in other areas, and the indefinite cut-off from international rail has hit tourism.

We do not have to accept that decline. A recent report by leading think-tank, the Good Growth Foundation, found that reopening the station could bring in an extra half a million visitors a year to Sussex and Kent. That would bring in more than £2.5 billion to our local regional economy over the next five years. It would cut hours off a trip from Hastings to Paris or Paris to Hastings, and provide a massive boost to our region.

The Labour Government are serious about delivering for our area. We are building prosperity in towns and cities that have been starved of investment for too long. The Labour Government will not allow our communities in Sussex and Kent to fall behind any longer. Eurostar should not have a monopoly on this track, which is why I have urged the rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, to allow rival operators to run on the line. The Government have been clear with potential new operators that this neglect cannot continue, and their willingness to restore services at Ashford will weigh heavily on how the regulator views the decision.

Just this weekend, Italian train operator FS—Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane—publicly affirmed its commitment to reopening Ashford International station, a ringing endorsement of our area and of Britain as a place to invest. Other operators have left the door open to bringing back trains to Ashford International. I urge them to make the same firm public commitment as FS in their plans.

In response to the prospect of competition, Eurostar has argued to the Office of Rail and Road that there is no space in the depot to accommodate other operators. It is clear those objections are less about capacity and more about protecting an unfair monopoly. I urge the regulator to grasp this opportunity for growth; its decision will be a key test of whether regulators can live up to our Labour Government’s call for a pro-growth regulatory regime.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady for bringing forward this debate and I wish her well in her campaign. Although this issue obviously does not affect my constituents in Strangford, I am here to offer my support to ensure that she achieves her goals, and I am sure the Minister is standing by to give her the green light. Does she agree that the soaring cost of air travel is a factor precluding many from visiting other cities and towns? Does she also agree it is imperative to have strong rail services to allow people to visit our constituencies and see the historical, retail and environmental beauties they have to offer? That cannot happen without a decent service to all areas, in particular to the hon. Lady’s constituency of Hastings and Rye.

[Helena Dollimore]

I totally agree that having good, international rail travel is important, not just because it is often cheaper and easier, but because it is better for the environment. At a time when we need to consider climate change, we must have more options for people to travel to our closest European neighbours. Since Eurostar stopped the service at Ashford International, many people in our constituencies are not making the journey to St Pancras because it takes too long and costs too much. They are instead driving and taking the channel tunnel, or parking at Gatwick and taking a flight. We know it will be better for the environment to have services restored at Ashford International.

There is also an important point about resilience. The hon. Member said that the issue under discussion might not affect his constituents too much, but actually we are in a time when air travel could be disrupted—we saw the ash cloud interruption a decade ago, which caused huge disruption—and we do need back-up options for travelling internationally. We have recently seen a number of incidents in the channel tunnel in which unexploded world war two bombs have caused massive disruption, and the fact that we have only two places on the line—the Gare du Nord and St Pancras—where passengers can be decanted during major interruptions is a significant risk to the line’s resilience. Opening up Ashford and providing more resilience on the European line would also improve services and resilience for our country.

As I said, I urge the regulator to grasp the opportunity to support ending Eurostar’s monopoly when it makes its decision. That is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. In Hastings, Rye and the villages, we know how much our area has to offer and how much we could gain from the restoration of international service. Thousands of my constituents have signed my petition calling for that vital link to be opened again, and I will keep working with the Labour Government and train operators to push for that to happen.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

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[Ms Polly Billington (East Thanet) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I can see France from my constituency on a clear day, and yet my constituents cannot get there easily or affordably for work or pleasure. Last week, I was speaking with one of my friends about her plans to go to Paris for the Christmas markets. A quick overnight stay for shopping and fun with a couple of friends was the kind of thing that less than a decade ago people from across Kent and Sussex did easily and affordably. Now it is practically impossible.

That might sound like what is known as a high-quality problem. After all, across the country people are struggling with the cost of living, and holidays, even short ones, are out of reach. But what is particularly galling about the situation in east Kent is that we are close to Europe and yet more cut off than ever. Although we have infrastructure specifically designed to connect us to France, Belgium and beyond, it lies unused and empty—paid for by the taxpayer and left abandoned.

A single ticket from Margate to St Pancras International station early enough in the morning to change to the Eurostar to Paris is £60, and the journey takes almost two hours. That is too expensive and inconvenient, so it stops people being able to do what they would like to. Because Ashford International station remains closed to European services, my constituents are forced to travel into central London, with the high costs that come with that. They do not have the unfortunate experience of the constituents of the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan), who must literally pass through Ashford—back and forth. However, that drive, which my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) mentioned, is counterproductive for the environment and bad for the capital, as well as for my constituents.

In its expansion plans, Eurostar still refuses to consider reopening international services at Ashford, and £80 million of public infrastructure remains unused and wasted, despite its potential. That means people in Kent and Sussex will continue to miss out on fast, convenient and cheaper connections to Europe, and on the tourism boost they would bring to our coastal towns. Reopening international services at Ashford is about more than just making it easier to go on holiday; it is about driving economic and social revival in deprived parts of the south-east.

Members across Parliament, although not in this Chamber, perhaps think of the south-east as leafy, wealthy places such as Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells. However, there are pockets of acute deprivation across the south-east and, for the most part, they are on the coast. We have so much to offer and so much potential. Margate, for example, is home to a globally recognised art gallery, the Turner Contemporary; Broadstairs has the history of being home to a world-famous author, Charles Dickens; and Ramsgate has the heritage to tell the story of our links to the rest of the world—from the arrival of the Vikings to the Romans and St Augustine, some of the most important and exciting changes to our country have started in Thanet. That has left a rich and vibrant history and a legacy of creativity and ideas that the rest of the world could benefit from, if only they could get there.

[Helena Dollimore]

My hon. Friend, like me, represents a constituency that the Sutton Trust has ranked one of the lowest for social mobility and opportunity. Does she agree that reopening the link would provide a massive boost to young people and opportunities for them in our area?

[Ms Billington]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Despite significant investment under a Labour Government in High Speed 1, which benefits my community, it often feels as though many people are still cut off from those opportunities. We need to break down barriers to opportunity, and the restoration of international services at Ashford would do precisely that.

The recent report from the Good Growth Foundation, which hon. Members from both sides of the House have referred to, highlighted the potential economic benefits of reopening those services. It found that doing so would lead to a £2.5 billion boost to the visitor economy over five years. Making it easier for constituents in East Thanet to visit Europe works both ways; it would also make it much easier for Europeans to visit our wonderful cultural sites, such as the Turner Contemporary gallery or our beautiful beaches.

I recently met VisitBritain, which told me that one of its target markets is France because of the potential tourism we can bring in via Eurostar. The Good Growth Foundation report found that reopening international services at Ashford would cut two hours from the trip from Paris to Thanet. That might not sound like a huge amount of time, but two hours is a big difference when it comes to making sure that people enjoy their holiday. Anything that makes it easier for tourists to visit will help to drive our local economies and revitalise our towns.

This debate is not just about exhorting Eurostar to restore those services; it has clearly made a business decision not to. Instead, it is about using the levers of Government, particularly the Office of Rail and Road, to ensure that future operators must make some commitment. Making sure that regulation drives growth, and particularly that it benefits people who have been left out of economic prosperity by previous decisions, is the role of the active state. Reopening international services is about showing people who feel ignored or let down by politics that Government can improve things—that a Labour Government can improve things—and that the Government recognise the importance of coastal towns and are committed to tackling the issues that blight us. It is time to make Ashford international again.

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[Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I commend the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) for securing this important debate. She, along with nearly everybody in the room, rightly made clear the pride they take in Kent and East Sussex. She rightly highlighted the channel tunnel as an incredible civil engineering achievement—it has been deemed one of the great engineering wonders of the world—and she cited her childhood memories of the formerly direct trains to Disneyland.

The hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan) provided some useful detail—which, I must admit, I was not aware of—on Eurostar’s debt refinancing and the progress it has made there. That is very important context, and may be a useful argument for questioning some of Eurostar’s current decisions.

The hon. Member for Ashford (Sojan Joseph) rightly pointed out that it was previously possible to make day trips to Paris from both Kent and London; it is still possible from London, but from Kent it is much harder. It is interesting to hear that he would support direct Government intervention in international rail, which is something that I hope the Minister will elaborate on further.

The hon. Member for East Thanet (Ms Billington) rightly said that Kent is so close and yet so far from continental Europe. She reminded us, helpfully, that while the south east of England is prosperous on average, it has great pockets of deprivation.

The hon. Member for York Outer (Mr Charters) made an attempt, perhaps, to rival the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) in terms of interpreting the meaning of Kent. More seriously, he was right to point out that there is enormous potential for directly connecting other parts of the United Kingdom to France and beyond.

Indeed, there were proposals to do exactly that in the 1990s and regional Eurostar trains were even built. Factors such as the rise of budget airlines and the ongoing challenge of needing to have border infrastructure at every station that such trains call at are some of the reasons why that did not happen. However, the hon. Member is right to say that the idea is still pertinent. Perhaps, had HS2 continued towards the north-west and the north-east, it might have been easier.

The hon. Member for Dartford (Jim Dickson) rightly reminded us that Ebbsfleet has also been affected by this, with the lack of service at Ebbsfleet International. He reminded us that one of the ideas behind the channel tunnel rail link, HS1 or, as it is now called, London St Pancras Highspeed—who knows what it will be called next?—was not just to reduce journey times between London and Paris and Brussels and reduce congestion on the existing Kent network, but to provide significant economic benefits to the south-east, which are now compromised by the ongoing failure to call there.

The hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) was right to highlight the unrealised potential of the channel tunnel and the fact that freight is also being neglected in terms of the original design intentions for the tunnel. The introduction of direct passenger rail services between the UK and France and Belgium, and now the Netherlands too, has brought many benefits. It has made rail dominant in those markets for modal share compared with air, reduced carbon emissions as a result, and brought the three capitals of London, Paris and Brussels closer together. It is a convenient option for many people.

[Helena Dollimore]

I thank the hon. Member for making the case for international rail. Does he therefore agree with me that it is a great shame that the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition Government sold this country’s 40% stake in Eurostar in 2015, during their time in Government? As a result of that sale, we lost our seat at the table when Eurostar makes decisions about where it will stop. Looking back—I know it was a Government that he was not part of—does he also accept that his party made a mistake and will he apologise to our constituents for selling our country’s shares in Eurostar?

[Olly Glover]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. That was a time of very straitened Government finances, which is something the current Government, of her own party, also have to grapple with, and make unexpected and regrettable decisions—for example, significant national insurance contribution increases for employers.

Both Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International brought benefits to Kent for many years, until 2020. The service was stopped by Eurostar for a range of reasons. Some are to do with Eurostar’s financial difficulties, as has been discussed, but there was also a lack of UK Conservative Government support for Eurostar, which was a choice, as well as Brexit. Both those things were major contributing factors.

It is a matter of regret that, five years on, Eurostar still does not serve Kent. This is unhelpful for tourism and cultural links for Kent, and is a waste of the considerable station infrastructure on the London to the channel high-speed line, which was provided for that specific purpose. More than 81,000 people have signed a petition calling for restoration of the Kent station calls, and a report by the Good Growth Foundation, which has been cited by many hon. Members today, estimates that up to £534 million of benefits per year would result from the restoration of those station calls.

This issue is not just about Ashford, as we have already discussed today. For the vast majority of people in Kent and indeed in East Sussex, it is easier to travel to Ebbsfleet or Ashford to change trains than it is to trek all the way into London, which often requires paying expensive peak fares, as some Members have already mentioned.

Indeed, disquiet about this issue is widespread in the county of Kent. For many decades, we have been familiar with the phenomenon of “Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells”. My friend, who lives in Tunbridge Wells and who pretty much exclusively travels to Europe by train, is very much a modern-day manifestation of that phenomenon, because of this issue.

As well as applying further pressure on Eurostar, I hope that the Minister will explore other ideas to realise the potential of the London Saint Pancras high-speed route to boost Kent’s economy. Those ideas could include a regular passenger train service not just to Lille, Brussels or Paris, but serving Calais-Fréthun, which would realise the potential of more closely linking the economies of Kent and northern France.

In France, the high-speed line to Paris transformed Lille’s economy. Ashford and Kent are yet to benefit in the same way, not least because of some of the border challenges that exist and Eurostar’s decisions not to stop in Kent. However, this transformation can still happen. The Minister can help to restore an international rail service to Ashford by resolving the conundrum around depot capacity for international operators. Although we expect a ruling from the Office of Rail and Road towards the end of this month about who will be granted access to the Temple Mills depot in Stratford, modest state support or investment in a new and larger rolling stock depot somewhere else along the line, and there are plenty of brownfield sites along the line, would help to facilitate private sector investment and competition to Eurostar, which Eurostar’s decision not to service Ebbsfleet and Ashford shows is needed.

I appreciate that the Minister may be somewhat disinclined to listen to me on the case for direct state investment. Perhaps, however, he will listen to the hon. Member for Ashford, which would also reflect the Government’s wider enthusiasm for state ownership of and investment in railways.

The issue that we have been debating this morning is part of a wider story of under-utilisation of the channel tunnel and the accompanying high-speed line. The Liberal Democrats believe that more international rail services would have wider benefits, potentially including a reduction in the number of short-haul flights from Heathrow, which might even reduce the need for a third runway at Heathrow. I very much look forward to hearing the Minister’s comments.

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[Helena Dollimore]

Today we have heard huge support from across the House for restoring international rail services to Ashford. I thank the Minister for the Labour Government’s firm commitment to restoring international trains to Ashford International, which is music to the ears of the constituents we represent. I also congratulate him on speaking from the Dispatch Box in a Westminster Hall debate for the first time, and on doing it so ably.

We have heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Sojan Joseph), with whom I have worked closely on this campaign, about the huge impact that the loss of international trains has had on his constituents and local businesses, as well as the huge impact of bringing those trains back. His area has felt it perhaps most acutely, and we know its importance to his constituents.

We also heard from my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) about how, when we discuss the issue and look at Eurostar’s decision, we must not forget that Eurostar ran down the service at Ashford International before the pandemic. He cited some helpful data on the number of trains stopping at Ashford International before the pandemic, and how it had gone down year on year.

If, like me, Members are fans of the TV series “Race Across the World”, they will know that in the first season one of the teams goes to Ashford—I think in 2019—and find, having got there at 5 pm, that the last service has already left. Again, that re-emphasises the point that while Eurostar cites covid as an excuse, if we look at the evidence and data, it does not stack up. It is just an excuse to continue a monopoly.

We heard some helpful remarks from my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan), who pointed out that Eurostar is recovering financially and has massive expansion plans in London. Why does it want to put all its eggs in the London basket, particularly when St Pancras is unsustainably overcrowded at the moment? Again, Eurostar’s excuses simply do not add up; they are all about defending a monopoly.

My hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Jim Dickson) made a powerful case about the role of the regulator. Together, a group of us went to the regulator to physically hand in the letter from our constituents urging them to pull their finger out and end this monopoly. I join my hon. Friend in calling for that. My hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Mr Charters) is really ambitious for the potential of international rail. Why stop at Ashford; why not go further? That was welcome to hear, as was his emphasis on how this could open up opportunities for his child and for young people in his constituency.

The point about opening up opportunities for young people and broadening horizons, increasing the relationship with our closest European neighbours, is absolutely key. It is a point that my hon. Friend the Member for East Thanet (Ms Billington) also made. As we hear our Labour Government talking ambitiously—rightly so —about a youth mobility scheme with the EU, what better time is there to restore this international rail link? My hon. Friend also talked strongly about our arts and creative industries on the south coast. Her constituency, like mine, has a thriving creative industry, which is one of the fastest-growing parts of our economy. Improving those links with Europe would really open that up, as well as the opportunities for tourism.

My constituency neighbour the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle also mentioned the huge tourism opportunity. He and I share the home of 1066, and we have a massive opportunity coming up next year to increase tourism with the return of the Bayeux tapestry to our region. With all the attention that that will grab, why not use it as an opportunity to encourage more tourists from Europe and France to come and visit the home of the Bayeux tapestry and the home of 1066, and hear about that history and that heritage? There is a massive tourism opportunity here more broadly.

I thank the Government for their firm commitment to restoring international trains to Ashford International. It is a great shame that the Conservative and Lib Dem Government sold our 40% stake in Eurostar, losing our constituents a seat at the table in making decisions. With the work we are doing, I hope that we can continue to keep the pressure up. It is great that we have had cross-party support today for restoring services to Ashford. We have even had support from across the country, as far as Northern Ireland and York. It is really welcome to see that, although I am disappointed that we have seen no Members from Reform or the Green party taking part in today’s debate on a cross-party basis and adding their voices to this call. We know that the issue has huge support from our constituents.

Thousands of my constituents have backed my own campaign; my constituency neighbours have run similar campaigns as well. People really miss that close link with our European neighbours, and we need to see it back. We know it will boost jobs, tourism and opportunities for young people. International rail travel is greener, cheaper and faster. Restoring the service is a complete no-brainer. All the infrastructure is sitting there ready to go at Ashford International. Let us not let it gather more dust; let us bring back international trains. I urge the train operators and the rail regulator to make it happen and bring back international trains to Ashford.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the potential merits of returning international rail services to Ashford.